Falling for the Boss (12 page)
Read Falling for the Boss Online
Authors: Elizabeth Lennox
Did she have no idea of the affect she had on him?
Was she teasing him? That thought made him grit his teeth. If that was the case, he’d have to talk with her. There was no time in the team’s schedule for needless, sexual teasing.
He shook his head. Of course she
wasn’t, he told himself. That was just his sexual frustration looming it’s ugly head
. He was her boss. She treated him with extreme politeness at all times, never indicating any sort of personal recognition. She joked with Mike and Bob all the time but she was too wary around him for anything more than polite inquiries into his well being.
In order for her to have been teasing him this afternoon, she’d have to have known he was going to be at the pool but he’d told Bob and Mike that he was going to the
Atlanta
office for the meetings. It was a coincidence that Jim arrived at the hotel instead of at the office.
She was behaving perfectly and he needed to follow her lead
despite his curiosity over her relationship with her soon-to-be-fiancé
.
He sighed and real
ized that was the safest
approach
. He needed to practice that as well and get her out of his mind during working hours.
He smiled ruefully as a thought occurred to him.
Maybe there was some way he could hire a gopher for the team. That way he wouldn’t have to watch her walk all the time and get turned on simply because of her sexy sway. He grimaced as he entered his hotel room, knowing he wouldn’t even consider giving up that kind of pleasure during the day, even if it made his nights easier to deal with.
And he also knew that he wouldn’t be able to deny his curiosity until he had the answers to the questions knawing at him.
Two more weeks passed and
Victoria
thought she was losing her mind. Thomas found several opportunities to touch her and as much as she loved having him near, she constantly had to remind herself that he had a girlfriend and she had an almost fiancé. It didn’t help that she’d tried to reach Barry several times over the past two weeks and was only able to reach him for terse conversations. He seemed preoccupied
lately
and almost irritated each time she called. He only wanted to know when she was going to be back in town and
,
since she wasn’t sure, he only became angrier.
She wasn’t sure what was going on with him. Their relationship was definitely on rocky waters right now. She talked to him about it one night while they were in Milwakee but he didn’t seem inclined to agree with her. In fact, they got into an argument about the fact that everything was fine between the two of them. He wanted her back in
Washington
,
D.C.
more often was all he would say. When she explained that she could be back the next weekend, she was surprised to hear him say that he had to go out of town.
After that conversation,
Victoria
determined that she wasn’t going to call him for at least a week. She wanted to give him time to calm down. She was also tired of calling him. She hoped he’d eventually call her, show some small sign that things really were okay between the two of them.
A whole week passed with no communications between herself and Barry. It was a week of frustration because Thomas
touched her more and more often. It was always simple touches
and
Victoria
knew she shouldn’t make more of them than they were. But she was becoming more and more interested in the man and he wasn’t helping her fight her attraction to him
.
One day they were in a crowded elevator and he stepped behind her to make room for more people. She could feel his whole body against her back and t
high
s.
There were other
times he
had to lean
over her chair to read something on her computer screen and she could smell his aftershave, the scent tingling her nose. At dinner one night, their legs touched under the table and it felt like an electric current had passed between the two of them
, and she fought to hide her reaction since Mike and Bob were also at the table
.
Victoria
’s
eyes met over the table
, clashing with Thomas’
, and
Victoria
had to look
quickly away, frightened of the intensity of his gaze.
Fortunately, the work kept going and
Victoria
liked the challenge of keeping up with Thomas’ schedule. There were tests of the team’s skills in every office.
San Diego
was another easy evaluation
financially
. The office director ran a tight operation and all the files that
Victoria
needed were available to her immediately with neatly typed explanation for anything out of the ordinary. She was able to finish her work in only a few days.
Unfortunately, the perfectly kept records which made her job easy, indicated severe morale problems in the office. Apparently, the personnel quit with regularity, meaning that there was no continuity and a severe drain of historical knowledge. It also meant that creativity and ingenuity were stifled
by a manager that suffocated his staff and intimidated anyone who disagreed with him
.
Victoria
knew that, although her task was done, Bob and Mike were having fits with the personnel side of the
equation.
The office director was a harsh task master, ruling his staff with an iron fist and
constant
criticism.
Bob was reading the last year’s performance evaluations on several employees and not a single positive note was written about any employee. And worse, all the evaluations were done by the division manager instead of the direct supervisor. There was definitely a problem. Discovering that problem was the easy part. Resolving the issue was the hard part.
It was almost
midnight
when Thomas, Bob and Mike walked back into the conference room
after meeting with the director for several hours
. She could tell they were pretty disgusted
and frustrated
by the way
the meetings
were going. “Not good, huh?” she asked.
All three men shook their heads. “Not good at all,” Bob said
, dropping into the chair opposite
Victoria
. “Why does he act as if any
stab
at
freedom
of thought
is a personal assault to his authority?”
Thomas shook his head and rubbed his forehead. He looked down at the floor, which naturally meant checking out
Victoria
’s legs which were crossed and halfway out from the conference room table.
He quickly looked away, but something caught his eye and he glanced back. “Dammit!” he said and stood up to look out the darkened windows.
Thomas
could see their expressions reflected in the window. He
noticed the three of them raise their eyebr
ows at his outburst but he coul
d
n
’t help it.
If only he hadn’t glanced
down at her legs. Why couldn’t he break this obsession he had with her legs? Hell, he admitted to himself, he had an obsession with her whole body.
Victoria
was wearing an ankle bracelet. It was demurely under her stockings but he could see it plainly enough
He could also see the worried look on her face although she tried to hide it. It warmed a place deep inside him to know that she felt something for him, even if it was only concern for his erratic behavior.
Clearing his mind, h
e turned back to everyone and looked at his calendar. “Okay, we have three more days here and we have a major issue. What are the goals for retention and what plans do we need to put into place to get there?” he asked to the group, starting the daily brainstorming meeting.
They talked for
several hours
and came up with a draft plan for the office. By
one
o’clock
in the morning
, Thomas said it was time to pack things up.
“Hey, boss. Isn’t the company party this Saturday night?”
Thomas stared blankly at Bob for a moment. He’d had
another flash of
Victoria
’s legs as she shut down her computer and stood up. He
couldn’t follow along with the conversation. “Excuse me?” he asked.
Bob repeated his question and Thomas looked dow
n at his calendar. “Oh, yeah.,” he said, punching some keys on his computer to bring
up the next week’s schedule. “W
e’ll all be able to make it.”
“What’s going on?”
Victoria
asked, not having this event on her calendar or having heard about it before.
Mike smiled evilly as he explained, “It’s the one night a year where the boss has to take us back to DC and hang out with us without giving us orders.”
“I’ll be giving
out everyone’s
assignments for the next month
this coming
Saturday night,”
Thomas
joked.
“I’ll bring my notebook,” Bob fired back
, winking at
Victoria
.
Thomas turned to
Victoria
. “It’s the annual ATI ball. The attire is black tie. You probably got an invitation in the mail but haven’t had a chance to sort it out from your bills yet. I should have mentioned it sooner but it slipped my mind,” he grimaced.
Victoria
nodded her head as she put her computer and her notes into her bag. But her mind was spinning. She had to go to a formal ball in
six
days time? How in the world was she going to find a dress in time for something that formal?
The next morning, she
called Laci and talked to her for a little while. Once the pleasantries were over, she casually asked her sister for a favor. “Laci, do you have a little time this week to do me a huge favor?”
“Sure! I don’t have any papers or exams. What’s up?”
“Well, there’s this party Saturday night. I need a for
mal dress but I don’t know if I’l
l have any time to go shopping. Do you have anything I can borrow? Or would you be able to pick up something for me?”
Laci chuckled. “Let me get this straight. You’re so desperate for something nice to wear around Mr. Hunk that you are willing to trust your baby sister to hunt out an appropriately demure dress for you to wear?”
“That about sums it up,”
Victoria
said, cringing at the idea. Laci and Victoria had completely opposite taste in clothes.
Victoria
was more sedate whereas Laci liked the strong, vibrant colors and more daring cuts. “Would you try? And not be offended if I need to go out on Saturday to get something
different
?”
“I’ll be happy to go on a shopping spree. I’ll even get several dresses for you to try on. When’s the party and when are you coming home?”
Victoria
reviewed her day timer, running a tapered fingernail down through the rest of the week.
“We’re scheduled to fly in early Friday evening, but from the way things are going, I’d venture that it’s probably going to be late that night. Could we meet for a late breakfast Saturday? Then I’ll treat you to a day at the spa for your efforts – as long as you get something I can wear in public,”
Victoria
warned.
Laci laughed at the suspicion in her sister’s voice. “I promise not to let you down.”
Victoria
hung up with her and called Barry. He wasn’t home but she left a message for him letting him know that she’d be home and asking if he would be able to accompany her to the Saturday night event. She knew he owned a tuxedo so she wasn’t worried on that front. But
s
he
also
knew he didn’t like staying home on Friday or Saturday night so he might already have plans.
Victoria
hated the idea of going to something like
a formal event
alone. She made the decision that if Barry was already engaged with another event, she would just make an appearance, then disappear.
She had been right in anticipating a late departure on Friday night. They didn’t finish up in
San Francisco
until ten o’clock at night which meant a late flight back to
Washington
,
D.C.
She entered her apartment around four in the morning, then fell into bed.
Her phone started ringing at eleven o’clock the next morning. “Hello?” she ans
w
ered the phone
drowsily
.
“
Victoria
?” Laci’s voice answered. “Are you ready?”
Victoria
sat up in bed and pushed her hair out of her face. “I guess so,” she answered, yawning. “Come on over and let me see what you’ve got,” she said.
“I’m downstairs,” her sister said. “I’ll be up in two minutes.”
Victoria
smiled at her sister’s enthusiasm. And sure enough, two minutes later, Laci burst into the room with an armful of shopping bags.
“Good grief,”
Victoria
said, amazed at the amount of stuff Laci had brought.
“Well, I wasn’t sure what you might like since we’re so different in our clothing taste. So I went a little wild.”
As Laci started pulling out the dresses from the various shops she’d attached,
Victoria
had to admit that she was impressed. Laci had
done a great job,
Victoria
thought as Laci pulled out one dress after another that would be perfect for the night. Not too loud but
colorful and
elegant. “I think this one will do the trick,”
Victoria
said, holding up a simple black dress with cap s
leeves and a beaded collar that
showed off her neck but nothing else.
Laci shrugged. “I got that one because I thought you’d like it. But I think you’d look even better in this one,” Laci said and pulled out the last dress. It was made entirely of rose satin with a rounded neckline and spaghetti straps. There was a matching shawl of rose georgette that would drape around her shoulders.
The rose satin glowed as it shimmered along Laci’s arms, eventually falling to the floor.
Victoria
fell in love with the dress
and immediately started imagining Thomas’s reaction to her in it. As soon as she realized what she was doing, she corrected herself and thought of Barry.
“Oh, Laci! This is beautiful. Where did you find it?”
Victoria
laughed and held the dress up to her so she could see her reflection in the mirror.
“I found it at a small store in
Alexandria
and I knew you’d love it. I’ll take back the rest of these.”
Victoria
looked at the way the dress made her look in the mirror and hesitated. “Do you think it’s too feminine?”
The material might cling to her figure a little too much. “Or maybe a little too risqué?” she asked, biting her lower lip as she moved slightly.
Laci’s mouth
thinned out. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Why?”
Laci considered how much she should say. After a moment’s hesitation, she dove into her observations.
“Well, it
’
s just that you’re going to be with Barry, a guy you profess to love enough to commit the rest of your life to. And from what I
’
ve seen, you’ll be having a romantic evening
dining and dancing and all dressed up
. You only need to say hello to Mr. Hunk, then walk away with him staring after you jealously because you’re so beautiful and you’re on the arm of another man and he hasn’t done anything to change that.”
“
Laci, he can’t change that nor would the thought ever occur to him to do anything to break up me and Barry. He can’t change the fact that I’m committed to marrying another man. Besides, h
e’s my boss. We can’t get involved,”
Victoria
emphasized. But she kept staring at her ref
l
ection in the mirror in the rose colored dress. “You know the rules about office romances. They never work out. Besides, he’ll probably be with his girlfriend.”
Just saying those words shot a spark of jealousy into
Victoria
’s heart.